Washington Redskins RB Derrius Guice has everything to prove

“It’s not just gonna take one person to bring me down. It’s gonna take more than one.”

Derrius Guice came from The Bottom. But on the night of April 26, 2018, he was at the top.

A grand stage splayed out in the foreground, with lights peppered around it, and a titanic screen behind a lonesome podium with a microphone. Twin staircases flanked the stage, and below them laid a vast concourse, looming in the shadow of the lights.

On the grounds of the concourse, Guice sat at a table with a nameplate, his mother alongside him, a wide smile on his face. That night, Guice intended to emerge from the darkness, and into the light of the stage, putting The Bottom behind him.

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The first round of the 2018 NFL Draft was set to captivate the attention of the nation, and Guice was expected to be one of the thirty-two players taken off the board that night. Evaluators swooned over his physical running style and his athletic ability, and as a pure runner, some held him in similar regard of draft darling Saquon Barkley.

As a talent, Guice was worthy as a first-round selection. But as the draft began, and the green room slowly emptied, the lights began to dull. Mayfield to the Browns. Barkley to the Giants. Fitzpatrick to the Dolphins. Payne to the Redskins. Penny to the Seahawks. Michel to the Patriots.

And as the last pick went off the board, and the face of Lamar Jackson flashed among the colors of the Baltimore Ravens on the screen above the stage, Guice learned that his name would not be called on Day One. He left the green room. He did not go back.

On Day Two, the wait continued. Guice was joined by his family at a local restaurant, away from the comforts and the confusion of the green room. The first-round talent wasn’t even the first running back off the board in Round 2. It was Nick Chubb. When the Lions traded up to pick No. 43, Guice must have thought it was for him. It wasn’t. It was for Kerryon Johnson.

And so he slid. And the rumors spread. Rumors that Guice, the exuberant 21-year old, was not as innocent as he seemed. Rumors that he had gotten into an altercation with an Eagles coach during a combine meeting, and that there was a bombshell TMZ report waiting in the wings to destroy Guice’s reputation.

But there was only one problem: By the time the Washington Redskins selected Guice at No. 59 overall, close to the end of the second round, his reputation was already destroyed.

More than two months later, Guice, to his local fanbase, has quickly restored his reputation, but nationwide, he’s still the running back who fell to the end of the second round because of his immaturity. Because of a purported video game addiction. Because of his temper. Because of his superiority complex. Because of phantom character concerns that Guice has done everything to discredit in his time with the Redskins.

There is no TMZ Report. There’s only more for Guice to prove. On the field, to prove that he was worthy of being selected in the place of Nick Chubb. In the place of Rashaad Penny. And in the place of Saquon Barkley. And off the field, to prove that he made it out of The Bottom for a reason, and that he doesn’t plan on bringing it with him.

Now on solid ground, Guice has the opportunity to prove his critics wrong.

But sometimes, to find solid ground, one must fall.